the voices of famous actors? why no modern actors sound like them anymore?

[green papaya]

I noticed many of the Golden era actors voices are very distinctive or unique sounding? actors like Burgess Meredith , his voice almost sounds like he's from the UK? but he's an American actor, Ive never heard anybody from the US with a voice like his? or actor Jimmy Stewart, he also has a very distinctive sounding voice, he always sounded older like an old grandpa voice? Humphrey Bogart also sounds very unique, born in NYC, James Cagney has a NY gangster voice

Burl Ives has a old fashioned grandpa voice, perfect for story telling or narrations, Charlton Heston also has a great narrator's voice, those actors were all Americans, but they dont sound like the type of voices you hear today

I wonder what caused those unique voices or accents to disappear from modern society

 

[Paisley]

Just fashion. A lot of male actors had a guy-next-door sound in the 60s; women on the radio in the 90s sounded like they had a cold. Watch anime if you want to hear a range of voice acting--they don't sound like they're from the Golden Era, but have a much wider range than anything you'll hear in live action.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Many of the first generation of talking picture actors came from the stage -- where careful enunciation was necessary to being understood, especially since microphone amplification was not used in live theatre. This led to a very mannered style of delivery, nicknamed "Kansas City British," which mixed American pronunciations with a sort of King's English enunciation. This sort of speech carried over into the earliest talkies, but wore out its welcome fast when people like Cagney came along with a snappier sort of speech.

Radio had a lot to do with it too -- the earliest radio performers stressed very formal speech, but by 1930 stylized dialects were becoming popular, and the more distinctive a voice a performer had, the better.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

There was a linguistic shift in this country, and indeed around the world, with the rise in mass media. It has been said that in world a language dies every 14 days with the rush to learn English. With more standardized media, more standardized education and more people moving freely around the country, regional dialects disappeared, lessened, or are disappearing. For instance, The Kennedy Massachusetts accent is all but gone, the Katherine Hepburn Old Saybrook, CT accent is gone. Some people in Philadelphia spoke is "thee" and "thou" when I was a child. They are all gone. (This is referenced to in "The Philadelphia Story," BTW). Listen to old interviews with regular people, those accents are gone. It's not just actors; it's everyone.

The anecdote never proves the rule, but I speak drastically differently than how I did when I lived in Philadelphia; 20 years in Boston has had an effect.

Some actor's voices were created by them. Cary Grant, for instance.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Bob Hope was another good example. In spite of his rapid fire delivery and sometimes confusing jokes and puns, he always enunciates every word clearly. You are never confused about what he just said, what he meant is another matter ha ha.


Some actors have an old fashioned appearance and voice. I think George Clooney would look and sound at home in a 30s movie, can't think of any others off hand.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, Jim Backus, Andy Devine, Walter Brennan, just a few actors that have been on radio as well as doing so much in the industry that you KNOW who it is as soon as you hear their voice. I can think of no one to enter the circle with these greats from today's pool of entertainers.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well..I can think of some. Morgan Freeman's voice is quite unique and recognizable to me,as well as Sean Connery..perhaps William Shatner...Martin Sheen...Myrle Streep...Clint Eastwood...ETC. I'm sure there are many others if I thought about it long enough.
HD

 

[DesertDan]

James Earl Jones

 

[scotrace]

Benedict Cumberbatch. HE has an extraordinary vocal control.

 

[jamespowers]

Well..I can think of some. Morgan Freeman's voice is quite unique and recognizable to me,as well as Sean Connery..perhaps William Shatner...Martin Sheen...Myrle Streep...Clint Eastwood...ETC. I'm sure there are many others if I thought about it long enough.
HD

Most of those are old enough to be put into the "old actors" group. Sean Connery is 84. Shatner is 83. Eastwood is 84. Freeman is 77. Streep is 65 and Sheen is 74. James Earl Jones is 83. Choose someone born at least in the 1970s man. lol lol

 

[jamespowers]

Benedict Cumberbatch. HE has an extraordinary vocal control.

I have no idea who he is but now you have someone younger----38.

 

[emigran]

I ALWAYS remark to myself, while hearing a voice on the TV from another room... Oh that's... so and so... I do the same thing listening to vocalists from the G E... and get angry when I am unable to identify someone e.g., in early recordings of Julie London, Pattie Page, Vic Damone...etc
Good thread

 

[F. J.]

Some more voices . . .

Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, Jim Backus, Andy Devine, Walter Brennan, just a few actors that have been on radio as well as doing so much in the industry that you KNOW who it is as soon as you hear their voice. I can think of no one to enter the circle with these greats from today's pool of entertainers.

Jack Benny, Mel Blanc, Pat Buttram, Bing Crosby, Phil Harris, and Frank Sinatra are some more you could add to that list. A few more from just the film side include Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and John Wayne.
And if you want to back a few more years, Billy Murray also had quite a very distinctive voice.
And as far as current talent goes, Sam Elliott, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, and Tom Selleck all have very distinctive and recognisable voices.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Well..I can think of some. Morgan Freeman's voice is quite unique and recognizable to me,as well as Sean Connery..perhaps William Shatner...Martin Sheen...Myrle Streep...Clint Eastwood...ETC. I'm sure there are many others if I thought about it long enough.
HD

HD you sure did pick a few that really do stand out. Great voices and also great talent.

 

[jamespowers]

Jack Benny, Mel Blanc, Pat Buttram, Bing Crosby, Phil Harris, and Frank Sinatra are some more you could add to that list. A few more from just the film side include Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and John Wayne.
And if you want to back a few more years, Billy Murray also had quite a very distinctive voice.
And as far as current talent goes, Sam Elliott, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, and Tom Selleck all have very distinctive and recognisable voices.

Sam Elliott! Now there is a DISTINCTIVE voice today.
Tom Selleck sometimes and Tom Hanks even less but those are some to be sure. I have no idea who Ed Harris is.

 

[Bushman]

One voice I from the Golden Era I can ALWAYS pick out would be Jimmy Stewart. That kind of higher pitch with the bit of a whine to his voice. You really don't hear that kind of voice anymore, where it used to be very common in the Golden Era. FDR held the same kind of pitch, but with a heavier New England accent. It's very interesting how you don't hear that pitch in TV and film that much anymore. Actors with deeper voices like Robert Downey Jr and Christian Bale are more popular these days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One voice I from the Golden Era I can ALWAYS pick out would be Jimmy Stewart. That kind of higher pitch with the bit of a whine to his voice. You really don't hear that kind of voice anymore, where it used to be very common in the Golden Era. FDR held the same kind of pitch, but with a heavier New England accent. It's very interesting how you don't hear that pitch in TV and film that much anymore. Actors with deeper voices like Robert Downey Jr and Christian Bale are more popular these days.

Some of that has to do with the sound recording technology of the time, which emphasized the midrange and deemphasized the bass. If you went to a theatre in 1937 you got all the sound from the front of the theatre, and there was far less bass than modern audiences would expect. Today bass is very heavily emphasized, and is pumped up in the reproduction, making deeper voices sound even deeper than they really are.

A bass voice in the Era sounded like Eugene Pallette.

 

[Bushman]

Ya know, I was wondering if it may have something to do with the sound equipment of the day. Thanks for that information.

 

[jamespowers]

Some of that has to do with the sound recording technology of the time, which emphasized the midrange and deemphasized the bass. If you went to a theatre in 1937 you got all the sound from the front of the theatre, and there was far less bass than modern audiences would expect. Today bass is very heavily emphasized, and is pumped up in the reproduction, making deeper voices sound even deeper than they really are.

A bass voice in the Era sounded like Eugene Pallette.

Now THAT was a character.
http://youtu.be/Fp6bse_RNcM

 

[Guttersnipe]

Benedict Cumberbatch. HE has an extraordinary vocal control.

Now that's someone who could make a whole career out of narration or radio announcing, if inclined. Although, being an actual Englishman, and product of elite boarding schools, his accent is definitely not "Kansas City British." Although, apropos to Lizzie's point about that particular style of delivery originating on the stage, Benedict Cumberbatch started out as a Shakespearean stage actor. Another Brit with great voice control, tone and elocution is Sir Patrick Stewart.